Photodynamic therapy using a photosensitizer has attracted attention as a form of therapy capable of overcoming sequelae of cancer and side effects of conventional cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, and drug therapy.
The photosensitizer is excited by light radiation of a specific wavelength, and reacts with a surrounding substrate or oxygen, thereby producing reactive oxygen species, resulting in apoptosis or necrosis of surrounding tumor cells.
However, when a photosensitizer-administered patient is exposed to light, the photosensitizer currently used for cancer treatment causes a side effect of skin photosensitivity in which the photosensitizer non-specifically accumulated in skin or eyes of the patient is excited thereby kill normal cells of the skin or eyes.